Sunday, August 16, 2009

Scrub In For Updates

Every time we go to see the babies in the NICU, we have to "scrub in." "Scrubbing In" reminds me of the doctor shows on TV where all the doctors and nurses have fascinating conversations about cars, women and football, and then go operate on a patient. Here, we have to start a timer, then wet our hands and open a sanitary packet. Inside the packet is a half sponge, half skin-ripper-offer that we use to forcefully brush our skin from hands up to elbows. After the three minute timer is over, we can rinse and go see our babies. I have scrubbed in roughly 1.7 million times since Thursday, and I have yet to hear any fascinating conversations about cars, women or football. Mostly, people just talk about how cold the water is or how their baby is doing.

Speaking of how the babies are doing, Micah is an eating machine! He has responded well to feedings, and is now up to taking 30 ml per feed, just like his big sister. Here he is having a bit of skin-on-skin bonding time with Rachel, as he is not quite ready for nursing. Despite his successes in feeding, he is still fighting in some other areas. He did not maintain his body temp in the open crib test, so he will remain on the warming bed for another day, and he has also had several episodes of bradycardia. Bradycardia, or "Brady's" as they are referred to in the NICU, are short periods of slow heart rate. It is relatively common in premature babies, but nonetheless a setback. Micah will remain in the NICU until he can shake the Brady's - he has already had about five today. Since he is battling the Brady's, he will remain on oxygen despite an acceptable respiration rate.

Malorie is again trying to become the first Klug twin to pass the open crib test. This is her third day in a row attempting the test. My cold-blooded princess is sleeping all bundled up like a snow bunny; dreaming of butterflies, Jonas Brothers and prom night while trying to stay warm. She has been a reluctant feeder, but after two disappointing feeding sessions last night, she came around and took 44 ml from me at about 2 am. That saved her from having to be tube fed. She is being pokey about eating again today, but we are still hoping to keep her from getting the G-tube. The nurses think she may be tired from trying to nurse with Rachel, but are encouraging us to keep up our efforts, as Mal will eventually come around and by then she will already have good nursing habits.

Finally, my buddy Micah wore his first clothes today. He decided to wear a Cubs onesie since the Cubs had won two games in a row, cheering the team to go for a sweep of the Pirates. Dad approved of his outfit choice, and sang him, "Go Cubs Go."

Who's in the crew?

The Klugs are comprised of one husband (Billy), one wife (Rachel), two wonderful babies (Micah and Malorie) and one beagle (Tyson). All of the events depicted here are real, some are just exagerrated for dramatic/comedic/therapeutic purposes.